My new bathroom has two different faucet lines (Jado IQ and Kohler Purist) and 2 different hardware/accessory lines. Plus the lighting is two different lines from Restoration Hardware. But the finish is the same throughout (polished chrome) and the lines are all similar and complementary. I dont think you need to purchase all the SAME manufacturer and line... juts find things that are pleasing together.

I would personally match all of the bars. The reason I say this is that if you do, they won't be immediately recognizable as grab bars (presumably you are going for the decorative grab bars in the first place for a less "clinical" look). I would want them as grab bars to fade as much as possible and making them the odd man out will draw attention to them. I wouldn't bother to "match" accessories to the faucet except in finish and general feel (vintage, modern etc.) To me faucets and other bathroom fixtures stand out on their own apart from towel bars. This is from someone who has a toto toilet, claw foot tub, one sink in a vanity from restoration hardware, another sink in an open console from another manufacturer, rohl country faucets, rohl country shower except for the shower head which is speakman, some other brand for the claw foot tub (could not afford the rohl so went with something basic and period appropriate), newport brass console legs, restoration hardware bistro train rack and hook and towel bars but RH vintage glass shelf to coordinate with the console better. Oh and some other brand standing tp holder. Figure THAT mess out :)

1) Personally, I do not think all of the hardware has to match in finish. I have mixed chrome and brushed nickel and stainless in the same room. Personally, I prefer them to be in the same "family" (ie: silver colors), but that's just a personal preference. 2) I do not think that hardware finishes have a strong impact on whether a room looks dark or light. I believe that paint, floor color, countertop color, and vanity color have a much bigger impact on how dark a room feels because they fill up the space. 3) If you really like the contrast of dark wood (and/or dark granite or something) with the white, go for it. Consider using a light colored wall paint to keep the room from feeling too dark. I love the striking contrast of white and dark wood. 4) What other finishes would you like to mix in?

Thanks everyone for the comments! The shelves above the toilet would be purely decorative. We saw a picture in a magazine that had those shelves above a toilet and we both liked them. However, the bathroom in the picture was bigger than ours. My son loves the Pottery Barn look so I was trying to give that to him. He likes the jars filled with qtips, cotton balls, and so on. I definitely thought about hanging the mirror in the shower; that's what I had originally bought it for. But then I decided it would be smarter to buy a dresser mirror (those not very expensive mirrors that you get for hte back of your bedroom door to see how you look) and put that up there instead. A friend told me that you can find those mirrors that aren't real glass and that seems like a safer choice. I was also trying to avoid glass shelves in the bathroom. Even though my son is fairly mature, he is only 8 and when he has friends over they can get a little energetic. Glass in the bathroom worries me. I could try and go with a train shelf, but, those are even deeper than the white shelf. The wall color is prettier in real life; it's Coos Bay by Pratt and Lambert. Yes, the clock, it's a keeper. It is a clock and it also measures humidity and temperature which my son thinks is "cool". Mostly, I want him to have a clock so that he is not dilly dallying in the morning when we are trying to leave for school. Another idea I had was to have DS put together some Lego Architecture kits and then put those in shadow boxes and mount those to the wall above the toilet. He is crazy about lego. What do you think of that idea? I could also put up a standard white, or black medicine cabinet from Home Depot and put that above the toilet. Thoughts on that? Or maybe I should try and find like an interesting open shelf cabinet that isn't so deep so it can still house the qtips, and the cotton balls. I'm the worst at accessorizing. My whole house is "less is more" already! :-) Any other ideas are most welcome. Here is a link that might be useful: Lego Architecture- Space Needle